Tuesday, June 7, 2011

In a city filled with both pretentious indie-rock bands and over-the-top hard-rock bands, The Diemakers come off as a sort of healthy balance between two extremes. Their debut album Assault All Your Senses showcases this middle-ground with material that, though not genre-bending or defining, sounds fresh and fun while at the same time giving hardcore music lovers enough to appreciate.

The album kicks off with “Get It (Love)” and wastes no time getting to the point: this is a rock band. The trio is led by singer and guitarist Dominic Harris, whose vocals recall Robin Zander and Cliff Johnson. His rhythm guitar work appropriately echoes the pop sensibilities of Cheap Trick and his solos would make Angus Young proud, giving the band a hard rock edge while still maintaining universal appeal. Additionally, Ben Smith's drums stand out during nearly every song, and Jay Harnish's bass comes in and out at all the right places, always serving the songs and never being flashy. He has a lot of slack to pick up as this record has an abundance of guitar solos, and he handles being the glue that binds everything together very well.

The standout track is “On Your Side,” which is strong in both lyrics and melody and features excellent guitar solos.
Also watch for some great guitar work on “Out of Control” and a quirky
but cool intro on “Doing it Again.”

That said, Assault All Your Senses is not perfect. One could argue that there are too many guitar solos, and Harris seems to rely on his guitar work for hooks rather than vocal melodies (the exception to this is track three, “On Your Side”). The album is also very short at eight songs, with the last, “Remember Exit 68,” being instrumental. In addition, every song is a relatively straightforward hard-rocker, and while this is great for fans of rock and roll, the band comes dangerously close to “every song sounds the same” territory.

Nonetheless, the album is a very good debut from a band that I'm sure will sound even better live. There's just something about this type of music that begs to be seen and heard in person, and it is also very fitting that the band decided to release it on vinyl (which I highly recommend picking up if you can). Every song is worth a listen, and the Diemakers are certainly worth keeping an eye on whenever they play around town.

You can catch The Diemakers' next live show on Tuesday, June 21st at Fireside Bowl. $8, 8:30 p.m., 17 and over. Tickets here.

I can claim to think that because the type of music the Diemakers perform is better suited to a live show. Fast, fun, energetic, etc.

This was an album review, therefore it was not my place to write about the band's live show. And FYI, I'll be at the Fireside Bowl show June 21st "doing my homework." Hopefully I'll see you there and you'll have the guts to show yourself.